The founder of a local victims' advocacy group is blasting a provision of a new bill that would at least initially prevent publication of suspects' names in domestic-violence cases.

The bill, approved by the House and Senate after midnight on Friday as lawmakers swept through a flurry of legislation as the session was winding down, was intended by supporters to protect the identities of domestic-violence victims. It still must be signed by Gov. Deval Patrick, and would take effect immediately when and if he does.

But Laurie Myers, of Chelmsford, founder of Community VOICES, a victims' advocates group, is incensed by the legislation.

"Let's not insult the intelligence of the public by claiming this law is intended to do anything but shield identity of the person charged, not the victim," Myers said. "We should allow more information to be available to the public, not less.

"If they were really interested in protecting victims they would have added language that would have prevented the press from disclosing the victim's name, not the person charged with the crime," Myers added.

According to a summary of the bill (S 2334), which was filed late Wednesday, provisions prohibit information regarding domestic-violence complaints and arrests from being included in daily police records and logs. Entries related to domestic violence would be kept in a separate log, similar to reports of rape and sexual assault.

The bill, proposed by state Rep. Alice Peisch, D-Wellesley, keeps secret the identity of accused domestic-violence abusers and their victims until a case is heard in court.

Advertisement

Supporters of the legislation argue that media scrutiny -- such as in high-profile cases like that of Jared Remy, who had a lengthy criminal history before murdering his girlfriend, Jennifer Martel -- can discourage domestic-violence victims from reporting the crimes.

A newspaper publishers group is not happy with the move, and had encouraged its members to lobby lawmakers to oppose the language in the domestic-violence compromise bill it says limits public access to police reports and arrest logs.

Robert Ambrogi, executive director of the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association, sent out an alert to members on Thursday, as lawmakers were entering their last day of the formal legislative calendar.

"As we have noted before, closing police logs could have the unintended consequence of shielding perpetrators from public disclosure -- even when the perpetrators are public officials or others in positions of trust or authority," Ambrogi wrote, pointing to the 2012 arrest of the Waltham police chief that could have been shielded from the public under the compromise bill.

The bill also establishes a first-offense domestic assault and battery charge, making strangling a domestic partner a felony, and would make other changes to state law, including providing up to 15 days of employment leave for victims of domestic violence and creating a fund to aid victims and encourage practices aimed at preventing domestic violence.

Supporters of the bill say the move is designed to protect victims, but others are skeptical.

Sen. Jamie Eldridge, D-Acton, said that while he voted in support of the bill because of its tougher laws on domestic violence, he disagreed that hiding perpetrators' names helped to protect victims.

"I think at a time where we're trying to increase public awareness, both about those who are committing domestic violence and also that there's no shame in a victim coming forward to say they're a victim of domestic violence, if we're making an exception in public records, including police logs for people who commit domestic violence, I actually think that protects these batterers," Eldridge said. "One of the ways you discourage domestic violence is by making information more public to apply public pressure."

Material from the Associated Press and State House News Service was also used in this report.

Welcome to your discussion forum: Sign in with a Disqus account or your social networking account for your comment to be posted immediately, provided it meets the guidelines. (READ HOW.)
Comments made here are the sole responsibility of the person posting them; these comments do not reflect the opinion of The Sun. So keep it civil.